Startlingly accurate and amazingly on point. While other reviewers have noted some of the deficiencies in the book, those flaws in no way diminish this classic cyberpunk story. Yes, there are some issues with the plot. There are also instances where the prose seems to echo William Gibson's, but never quite reaches the same level of poetic artistry or evocative imagery that Gibson used in the Sprawl trilogy. Nevertheless, Sterling showcases his eerily prescient vision of a future dominated by the Net and how that omnipresent interconnectivity simultaneously changes the world and reinforces many of our baser human tendencies. Sound familiar?
Scop. Self-driving vehicles. Data piracy. Watchphones. Live-streaming being the norm. How the ascendancy of multinational corporations impacts citizenship. The global decline of the sovereign state. These are some things Sterling depicts in his version of 2023. Several items on that list have already come to pass and others are tracking to be in place by the end of the decade. Remarkable. Sobering. A bit frightening, as well.
Some quotes for context:
"They made a business of abstracting, condensing, indexing, and verifying-like any other modern commercial database. Except, of course, that the pirates were carnivorous. They ate other databases when they could, blithely ignoring copyrights and simply storing everything they could filch. This didn't require state-of-the-art computer expertise. Just memory by the tone and plenty of cast-iron gall."
"Also less chance that the fascist Army might accidentally shoot us on purpose, la."
"The Man, the Combine, the Conspiracy. You know. The Patriarchy. The Law, the Heat, the Straights. The Net. Them."
"Oh," Laura said. "You mean 'us'."
"Your doctor friend may have a carrot instead of a stick, but the carrot's just the stick by other means."
TLDR: a good read, especially if you're looking for perspective on modern development. It certainly helps clarify where we might be going. It also serves as a powerful reminder of how long these advances have been in the works. Many of the issues discussed in the book have been on the table for more than thirty years, yet we still seem unready to address them. Let's keep our fingers crossed that there's not an errant submarine prowling the oceans of the world, working for a militaristic state that may be a rogue nuclear power.
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Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2017
Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2020
Review of the book ISLANDS IN THE NET by Bruce Sterling which I had ordered through you and received two days ago.
Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2014Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2021
Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2016
Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2015
Top reviews from other countries
Mr. P. M. Anthony
Good build up but just ok ending
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 16, 2009wendy felstead
Haven't started reading it yet, but like the writeup
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 30, 2017
